Mine has stood up well.
I tend not to use the vacuum on what I would consider the more fragile areas of the layout. I will use canned air from the appropriate distance to blow the dust off while holding the vacuum over the area.
I also use Swiffers and just pat the sensitive grassy and dirt areas with them. I will also cut off a bit off a Swiffer and wrap it around a skewer and gently clean engines and rolling stock. It does a much better job than a Q-Tip.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Mine has been fine since I started using it years ago. It's even survived a move from Massachusetts to Delaware. It still looks good, both the shorter, more in control areas and the longer more wild areas.
I put my static grass down with thinned white glue, applied with a pipette, not sprayed. I use a Gras-Tech applicator and generally use Silflor grass. I like to use a variety of colors and lengths to give more of a natural look than a manicured lawn look. This generally means 4 and 6 mm grass for my HO layout. I don’t like the very short 2 mm grass at all. It ends up looking more fuzzy than grassy.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Jim,
Depending on the quality of the application - some where between bullet points two and three.... I have vacuumed mine many times and it stays put. I have a large amount of static grass on the layout - some has been in place since 2007ish - no problems
Guy
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
My layout is fast approaching the part of scenery installation where trees, bushes, grass, etc. will begin to "suddenly appear" on the barren landscape. So my question is - how durable is static grass?
Will it be:
permanently marred with the slightest touch, or
be able to withstand gentle non-contact vacuum cleaning, or
be as bulletproof as commercial ground foam secured with an overcoat of spray glue?
Jim